mid-day editorial: Don't let a 35-ft black hole gobble up lives

High-rises are supposed to offer privileged existence, but residents of the upscale Ivory To­w­ers in Juhu have been living in hell. A report in this paper yesterday highlighted the plight of residents in the Juhu Beach building. Apparently, deep digging, 35 feet down, on an adjacent plot has left alarming fissures and cracks across the structure. The residents claimed, the foundation of the building has also weakened.

In an already crowded Mumbai, the residents are now looking for alternative accommodations.

While there has been some token political support, urgent scrutiny and immediate solutions are the need of the hour. Apparently, owners of the adjacent plot claim they had acquired all the sanctions before going ahead with the digging work. If so, at least one person from our civic authority needs to answer how permission was granted to dig so deep near another high-rise, situated on a sandy shoreline? Were the required audits done before giving the sanctions? Also, were safety precautions of buildings and infrastructure surrounding this digging project considered?

Now that so many families are on the verge of becoming homeless, who will compensate them and how? Perhaps local political representatives and corporators should step up and offer help, even if their real motives are to attract more votes in the upcoming polls.

Our authorities should not be waiting for tragedies to occur before they sit up and take stock of issues plaguing out citizen. But it takes an incident of mammoth proportions get them moving.

Words are of little use if they are not followed up by actions. Time doesn't wait for anyone; the building is getting more inhabitable by the minute and numerous lives are at stake. Perhaps that should inspire our authorities to intervene?